Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey appears to have learned the hard way that the Black Lives Matter glorification of victims of police violence is not always what it seems.
The Steelers chose to honor Antwon Rose Jr. on the back of their helmets. He was shot and killed by Pittsburgh police in 2018.
Rose was shot fleeing from the passenger seat of a car that police had pulled over on suspicion of a drive-by shooting. He ran for it as the driver was being handcuffed by police. The victim of the drive-by said it was Rose who shot him. Rose died with gunshot residue on his hands, and a firearm was found under the passenger seat he had been sitting in.
Does this mean Rose should have been shot? Maybe not, although a jury disagreed and acquitted the officer who fired on him. But even if you disagree with the jury’s decision, it’s clear Rose is not someone who should be honored. Pouncey agreed, saying, “I was given limited information on the situation regarding Antwon, and I was unaware of the whole story surrounding his death and what transpired during the trial following the tragedy.”
Steelers offensive lineman Alejandro Villanueva caught some heat from Rose’s mother for taping over Rose’s name with that of U.S. Army Sgt. Alwyn Cashe, who was killed in Iraq in 2005. Now, other Steelers players appear to be distancing themselves from the decision to honor Rose, with star defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick saying the decision was “mostly made by people upstairs.”
It’s not just Rose, though. The NFL OK’d the honoring of Michael Brown on the back of helmets as well, and in their social justice video of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” they showed Rams players back in 2014 doing the “hands up, don’t shoot” gesture. Brown was shot while trying to take a gun from Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. Even President Barack Obama’s Justice Department determined that the shooting was a justifiable act of self-defense by Wilson.
The same is true of both the NFL and the NBA with Jacob Blake, an accused rapist whose shooting was not as clearly unjustifiable as many others. Blake was shot when police suspected he was reaching for a knife.
It is possible to argue for police reform without citing dubious cases such as those of Blake and Rose. It’s certainly possible to argue for police reform without citing Brown, whose shooting was evidently justified. But the glorification and honoring of such people is destructive to any police reform efforts, not to mention immoral. Clearly, NFL players are learning that they should be using more discretion.
